


joy to light the way

by paradoxikay



Category: K (Anime)
Genre: Bathing/Washing, F/M, Fluff, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-05 23:18:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17928257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paradoxikay/pseuds/paradoxikay
Summary: Being human is worth it for the little things.





	joy to light the way

**Author's Note:**

> This was meant to be porn - that seems to be something of a theme with me - but the porn part just wasn't working. The lead-up is so cute I couldn't bear not to post it, though!

“Kurosuke! Come have a bath with me!”

Kuroh’s in the other room, but he doesn’t even have to open his mouth for Neko to know what he’s going to say. _It’s not proper to bathe together_ , or _you can wash your own hair_ – and she can, of course, but it takes _so long_ and it’s way more fun to have Kuroh do it for her, even if she did care the slightest bit about being _proper_. Which she doesn’t!

“ _Kurosuke_!”

A sigh drifts in from the kitchen, closely followed by Kuroh, who regards Neko with a sort of fond exasperation. “You’re perfectly capable of bathing yourself,” he points out, but he’s smiling, just a little, and Neko knows she’s already won.

“Purrlease?”

“After I finish the dishes,” Kuroh concedes, and if it’s harder to finish that chore with Neko hovering impatiently behind him he doesn’t say a word. The very second the last dish is dried and put away Neko grabs his hand, tugging him towards the bathroom, and he follows without complaint.

Even though he’s gotten very familiar with Neko’s body by now, Kuroh still gets all embarrassed when she strips down in front of him, muttering a token protest under his breath as though Neko’s going to pay him any mind. It’s kind of cute, really. When she leans in to kiss his forehead, he turns bright red, and her laughter echoes through the bathroom.

“You’re so silly,” she fondly informs him, and he just sighs, resigned, as he starts to undress himself. She leaves it at that – if she bothers him too much, he might decide not to wash her hair for her, and that just won’t do.

The most cat-like parts of her still shy away from water, but she ignores those parts now, just like she eats onions and garlic and other things cats shouldn’t eat. She’s not really a cat, after all, no matter how long she spent pretending otherwise. She’s a person – she’s Shiro and Kuroh’s person! – and with them she finally feels safe enough to be just that, instead of hiding behind illusions she can’t make any more anyway.

Besides, being human is worth it for the little things, like showering with Kuroh. Having both long hair himself and more patience than Neko will ever possess, he knows exactly how to take care of hers, and she practically starts purring as he massages her favorite rose-scented shampoo into her scalp and works it through her hair.

She’s pretty sure Kuroh likes pampering her, too, or he wouldn’t do it. He’s not the kind of person you can pester into doing things – Neko knows, because she’s tried! But it never takes too much convincing to get him in the bathroom with her. It’s turned into a little something just for the two of them, and that makes it all the sweeter.

(Too bad it can’t last forever. She wouldn’t mind a life like that, one good moment stretched out into infinity; it would go a long way towards making up for all the bad moments she’s been through. That might not be how time works, but in its way life with Shiro and Kuroh is almost the same thing.)

She hurries through the rest of her shower, finishing before Kuroh by hogging the showerhead and putting in _just_ enough effort to not get scolded. Finished, she watches him from her perch on the edge of the tub, captivated by the shift of muscles under skin as Kuroh moves. It’s not something she really gets to see with all his clothes on, and it’s easy to forget, when his sword’s not in his hands, that he owns a very physical strength Neko and Shiro just don’t have without the Slate backing them up. It took him years of training to build those muscles, not just a chance encounter with a stupid chunk of rock.

“Is something bothering you?”

She’s quick to shake her head and put on a smile – she doesn’t want to bother Kuroh with silly thoughts like that, not when they’re having such a nice evening together. “Nope!” she insists, and if he doesn’t really believe her, well, at least he doesn’t pry. He just rests a gentle hand on her shoulder for a moment as he steps past her into the bath, and she takes that hand and lets him lead her into the water too.

Curled up against him in the bath, her head resting on his shoulder… she’s so happy to have Kuroh, her friend, lover, _family_ , holding her close! Her heart could just burst with joy, that’s how happy Kuroh makes her. Thoughts of the Slate drift away, and she relaxes, practically melting against Kuroh’s chest as the hot water eases all the tension from her body and tugs her down into sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](http://enbynoctis.tumblr.com) | [twitter](http://twitter.com/paradoxikay)


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